2016 Washoe County Republican Assembly Endorsing Convention RULES
Participants:
Participation in the discussion at the Washoe County Republican Assembly (WCRA) Endorsing Convention is open to any WCRA member who has been a member in good standing for a minimum of 45 days. No proxies are allowed. Participants must be physically present to participate in the discussion. One vote per person and no participant may vote more than once per round of voting.
Nomination of candidates:
In order for a candidate to be nominated for consideration of endorsement by the WCRA, they must be actively campaigning as a Republican for a partisan office, or registered as a Republican running for a nonpartisan office. An endorsement will not be made in the race for President of the United States. Candidates need not be members of the WCRA (but membership is encouraged!). A WCRA member must act as a spokesperson for a candidate who is unable to be physically present. A candidate may also submit an audio/video presentation in place of attending, but still must have a spokesperson to represent him/her. (See the section on audio/video participation.) All candidates are required to fill out a WCRA ‘principles form’ before they can be nominated.
Nomination and discussion are done per race.
To nominate a candidate, a participant must ask for recognition from the chairman, and upon receiving recognition from the chairman, state clearly the candidate they wish to nominate. If the candidate is a WCRA member, they may nominate themselves. No speech on behalf of the candidate will be allowed at this point and no second motion is necessary. Candidates must be nominated from the floor during the nomination process to be considered for endorsement. Nominations will not be accepted after the nomination process has been concluded for a given race.
Discussion of candidates:
Once the nomination process has concluded, the chairman will first direct that the scores from the ‘principles form’ for each candidate in the race being discussed, be read before the discussion begins.
The Chairman will then open the floor for discussion on behalf of, or in critique of, the candidates that have been nominated. Discussion will proceed in the order in which the candidates were initially nominated, one candidate at a time. Only candidates who have been nominated may be advocated for. The candidate or their spokesperson shall speak, or present recorded video or audio first, for a maximum of five minutes, and may not speak again until the end of the discussion for that candidate. Participants must ask for recognition from the chairman to advocate on behalf of, or in critique of, a candidate. Upon receiving recognition from the chairman, the recognized participant will be allowed a maximum of 3 minutes to speak on behalf of, or in critique of, the candidate that is currently under consideration. Participants may ask for recognition to speak more than once. A maximum of 20 total minutes will be allowed for the discussion of any single candidate, however a motion to extend the discussion time shall be in order.
When the time limit has been reached, or all participants wishing to speak have spoken, the candidate or their spokesperson shall have two minutes to make a rebuttal and/or closing speech.
Voting:
Once the discussion concludes for a given race, the chairman shall begin the voting process. Candidates will be voted on in the order in which they were nominated. The chairman will call for a vote of the first candidate and those participants wishing to cast their vote shall stand until the vote counters have finished counting. This process will continue until all nominated candidates have been voted on. The candidate with the least number of votes will not continue to the next round of voting.
In the event that there is a tie for the least number of votes, the chairman will re-open the floor for discussion, with participants allowed a maximum of 2 minutes to speak, upon recognition from the chairman. A maximum of 10 minutes will be allowed for discussion, which requires a 2/3rds majority vote be extended. After discussion concludes, voting will resume. This process of elimination will continue until one candidate secures 2/3 (66%) of the vote of all the participants. This is the candidate that the WCRA shall endorse.
In the event of a tie with 3 candidates remaining, the chairman MAY call for a written ballot vote. If after a written ballot vote, one candidate is not disqualified, no candidate shall receive the endorsement of the WCRA. In the event that two candidates remain and neither candidate can secure 2/3 of the standing vote the chairman SHALL call for a written ballot vote. If after a written ballot vote neither candidate can secure 2/3 of the vote, no candidate shall receive the endorsement of the WCRA.
Audio/video participation
A candidate may submit an audio or video presentation in lieu of a live opening presentation. Such audio or video material may take the form of a DVD, or any commonly used audio or video file format submitted on a flash drive or similar media. A file, or a link to a downloadable file may also be emailed to tim@lionlamb.us no later than midnight of the night before the nominating convention. A YouTube video may also be used. The audio/video material shall be of five minutes or less duration. If the material runs over five minutes, playback will be stopped at the five minute mark. Candidates with audio/video materials are encouraged to be early, so their audio/video material may be checked for proper playback. WCRA shall not be responsible for audio/video materials that do not play back properly.
Interactive live candidate participation via Skype or similar teleconferencing software shall be allowed, provided that advance arrangements are made to test the teleconferencing setup to ensure it works properly. Such advance arrangements shall be made at least two hours before the beginning of the endorsing convention, and preferably, the day before. Such interactive participation shall only be allowed during the candidate’s presentation and discussion time period. A spokesperson must still be present to nominate the candidate, and to represent the candidate during the voting process, if necessary. WCRA shall not be responsible for interactive live candidate participation setups that do not work as they should during the time of the presentation and discussion. The nominating convention shall not be unduly delayed in an attempt to get such live remote participation setups to work as they should. (WCRANV)